


When Toy Soldiers Fall

by Aztecl



Series: Aztecl's Spring-Break-a-Bone-or-Two [1]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Angst, Aztecl's Spring-Break-a-Bone-or-Two, Blood, Crash Landing, Everyone Needs A Hug, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Male-Female Friendship, Stranded
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 19:55:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30060744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aztecl/pseuds/Aztecl
Summary: The fire died down with the rise of two moons behind him. He assumed the atmospheric conditions made it hard to sustain a fire, which was both good and bad, the latter because he wouldn't be able to light any kind of campfire. How cold would the night be? With at least two distress signals sent on a general subspace channel, there was nothing more that Benjamin could do while they slowly froze to death.[Spring-Break-a-Bone-or-Two #1: Carrying]
Relationships: Jadzia Dax & Benjamin Sisko
Series: Aztecl's Spring-Break-a-Bone-or-Two [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2211519
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	When Toy Soldiers Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Spring-Break-a-Bone-or-Two is a whump prompted challenge I created because of my failures at completing last Whumptober and Febuwhump. It starts 3/15 and finishes on my final day of spring break from school, 3/19. The prompts can be found on the main series page.  
> _
> 
> I wrote this with the intentions of a platonic relationship because these two are besties, however, you do what you want with it.

The first thought she had amidst the ringing in her ears was for Benjamin. Was he okay? Jadzia hoped he'd gotten far enough away from the blast radius so that he wasn't affected, unlike her.

There was a sharp pain in her stomach, making it hard for her to curl in on herself. Jadzia faintly heard herself cry out as she lowered her head onto the soft grass turning marigold in the setting sun's light. Black spots distorted the color, and she lazily raised an eyebrow where she thought she saw them. A general area was close enough.

Only a few minutes after they'd departed from Deep Space Nine and entered the wormhole, everything that could've gone wrong went wrong. Their runabout hull had literally been tearing itself apart as they traveled through the Gamma Quadrant at warp. Jadzia had slowed to impulse power while Benjamin found the nearest planet to safely land on.

Once planetside, they sent a second distress signal before abandoning the runabout. Smoke from half a dozen consoles was  _ never  _ a good sign. They had good reason to fear for the worst, especially with what they believed was sabotage.

And they were right about fleeing the landing site, for mere seconds later, a fiery explosion had engulfed the runabout and sent shards of debris flying in all sorts of directions.

Benjamin had been ahead of her, Jadzia remembered in a flash of memory as hazy as the smoke lingering above her. Benjamin would be safe. With that thought in mind, she was distracted enough for consciousness to escape. The world went black.

* * *

Coughing, Benjamin turned to look back at the smoke billowing from what was once a runabout. His eyes scanned the wreckage, watering from the intense heat licking his skin. 

When he spotted the color of Starfleet-science-blue, Benjamin ran forward without a second thought. He couldn't help but think about the last time he'd had a brush with fire, explosions rocking his world as bad as the death of his crew, of Jennifer. No. Wolf 359 was years ago. This was different from the massacre dealt by the Borg and Locutus, and Jadzia Dax was going to live.

Jadzia was lying on her side with one knee tucked up to her chest. His knees buckled when he reached her. Maybe he didn't get away completely unscathed.

"Old Man!"

Benjamin gently tapped her face. There was no response from the unconscious Trill, so he moved his fingers to her neck and felt for a gentle thud of a pulse. Then, he put one arm beneath her shoulders and the other in the crook of her knees, scooping Jadzia up.

He wasn't sure if he even could stand up. But with no other choice, Benjamin fought off his own dizziness and rose to a standing position. He stumbled across the ground and over rocks and debris. Looking back, Benjamin was proud to say he only fell once before getting back onto his feet and pushing towards the promise of safety, even if that was just a temporary solution.

The fire died down with the rise of two moons behind him. He assumed the atmospheric conditions made it hard to sustain a fire, which was both good and bad, the latter because he wouldn't be able to light any kind of campfire. How cold would the night be? With at least two distress signals sent on a general subspace channel, there was nothing more that Benjamin could do while they slowly froze to death.

The pale moonlight cast a dark shadow against the grass. It appeared larger due to Jadzia being in his arms, and with that in mind, he quickened his pace and blinked the spots out of his eyes.

As he searched the planet for any kind of natural shelter, Benjamin slowly grew to hate it. There was a lack of caves everywhere he looked. Instead, the planetside was dominated by an abundance of trees and vegetation.

He settled for a shadowy area of lush emerald grass. A canopy of leaves sat overhead and blocked out large amounts of light.

"Looks cozy," a voice said.

"Glad you could join me, Old Man," Benjamin replied. "How do you feel?"

She hissed in pain, hands moving towards her abdomen. Benjamin slowly lowered both of them to the ground and placed Jadzia gently besides him. Her eyes were squeezed shut.

"Ben, I think there's a piece of shrapnel in my stomach."

He pried away her hands and eyed the blood blossoming on the lower portion of her uniform. 

"It's funny…" she continued.

"What is?" Benjamin asked, peeling away the bloody fabric to get a better look.

Jadzia was doing the signature  _ Dax-has-a-crazy-stupid-idea  _ smirk. "It's funny how a piece of metal that's making me bleed out is also the only thing keeping my blood inside my body."

"I hate it when you say stuff like that. Curzon did it to me, too."

He shrugged off his outer jacket and tore it into strips with a single woosh. Benjamin took a clump of grey fabric and pressed it onto her wound, being careful as to not jostle the sharp edge of whatever was sticking through her pale skin.

"It doesn't look like it hit any organs," Benjamin said.

"Did I miss your graduation from medical school?"

He ignored her. "Is Dax alright?"

"Dax feels fine, but when we get back to the station, I'll have Julian take a look."

"We weren't too far from the wormhole. It shouldn't take long for someone to catch our distress signals and send out a rescue team. Hopefully before we freeze to death."

Both of their breaths were visible as chilled puffs of air. The temperature had dropped quickly, and apparently Starfleet uniforms weren't the best when it came to insulation and withstanding frigid conditions.

Jadzia slowly sat up, her shaking shoulders leaning against Benjamin's. "And I was just about to say how beautiful this place was."

"Had a change of heart, did you, Old Man?"

He put an arm around her. Jadzia leaned into him, keeping one hand over the makeshift bandage on her shrapnel wound. 

Benjamin realized he couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. They fell into a silence as thick as the darkness around them, yet even that was companionable as a familiar face. The only light shining down upon the dysfunctional duo was the aura of hundreds of stars floating above, peeking through the canopy of leaves drooping down over their shoulders.

Somewhere out there, he thought, there was an angry Bajoran listening with rapt attention to their distress signal. She'd grab Chief O'Brien and Doctor Bashir and then leave Ops to go and pilot a hopefully un-sabotaged runabout to the Gamma Quadrant.

They might be lost and a little dazed, but Benjamin knew him and Jadzia would be found.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments and kudos are strings for the words floating in my head!


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